Recovery
by daffodil729
Summary: Sequel to The Proposal.
1. Chapter 1

"Commander, if you were already getting cold feet a couple of hours after you proposed, you could've just told me you'd changed your mind," Callie teased from the door of the hospital room. "You didn't have to go off and do all this to get out of marrying me."

"Are you serious?" Steve, groggy from the anesthesia and pain medication, teased back. "Damn. Got myself shot for nothing."

Callie walked to the bed and gently kissed him. "You scared me."

"Mmm. I'm sorry. Can I have another one of those?"

She grinned and kissed him again.

"Not how I pictured tonight," he said, grimacing as he shifted on the bed.

"No," Callie agreed. "But it could have been a lot worse. I'm just glad you're going to be okay. And until you're well, you should probably have a live-in nurse." She kissed him again.

"Oh yeah? I thought you were a doctor."

"Mm. I think playing nurse would be more fun." Another kiss.

"Getting shot may not be so bad after all."

"It may have some advantages." Callie paused, turning serious. "I really am glad you're okay. I wouldn't know what to do without you."

She hugged him as tight as his injuries allowed, thanking God for sparing him once more.

Callie sat by the bed and rubbed the back of Steve's hand for a while longer.

"I guess I need to stop being selfish and tell the others they can come see you," she said. "Danny's probably about to have a duck fit out there right now."

They both smiled, knowing she was right, and she left the room to get Steve's team.

"You are a trouble magnet!" Danny exclaimed as he walked into the hospital room. "I mean, really! Who goes off and gets themselves shot on the same day they get engaged! And the bust was already over!"

Steve chuckled lightly, wincing and clutching at his abdomen as he did. "Hey, Danno,"

Danny grinned and leaned down to hug Steve. "It's good to see you, partner." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, man. We were the ones who called the all clear. I don't know how we missed him."

Steve grabbed at Danny's hand and clutched it in his fist. "Don't do that. Nothing to be sorry for." He closed his eyes.

"How are you feeling?" Danny asked quietly.

"Tired," Steve admitted.

"Is it okay for the others to speak to you right quick? Then we'll let you rest."

"Sure."

Danny stepped to the door and motioned to the others.

Kono, Chin, Lou, and Jerry came in quietly.

"Hey, boss," Kono said softly, smiling and kissing his forehead. "You okay?"

"I will be," Steve smiled.

"Brah," Chin patted Steve's good shoulder. "I'm sorry. That was our fault."

"Already told Danny—nothing to be sorry for."

"Still. I hate that it happened."

Steve was fighting to stay awake, but his eyes were fluttering closed. "'M sorry," he mumbled. "'M tired."

"Not a problem, Steve. We're going to let you rest now," Lou said.

"We'll see you tomorrow, Commander," Jerry said, patting Steve's arm.

"O-kay," Steve whispered, his breathing already evening out.

Smiling, the group went into the hall so they wouldn't disturb their sleeping leader.

Danny hung back, a few steps away from the group, not knowing exactly what his role should be. In the past, he'd always stayed if Steve was in the hospital. Now that Callie was in the picture, though, he didn't know what to do. He didn't want to leave, but he didn't want to overstep either. It was a strange feeling for the detective.

"Tell us what to do to help. What can we do for you, Callie?" Lou asked.

Callie bit her lip in thought. "Um…I guess we'll both need clothes, if someone wouldn't mind getting those for us?"

"I would be happy to do that. Do you have stuff at Steve's, or should I go to your apartment?"

"Thank you, Kono. I have a bag there. It's in his bedroom."

"Okay. I'll grab all the necessities."

"Oh, gosh!" Callie exclaimed. "Beau! What should I do about him?"

"I'll take care of Beau," Jerry volunteered. "Would you like me to take him home with me or stay with him at Steve's?"

"Oh, Jerry, that's so sweet of you," Callie smiled. She thought for a minute. "Would it be too much trouble to ask you to stay there? He knows the rules there, and he's still a little mischievous. I don't want him to chew anything at your apartment."

"No, of course not," Jerry said. "I'd be happy to."

"Do you know where everything is?" Jerry nodded. "Please make yourself at home."

"I'll be back in just a little bit with your clothes. I'm sure you want to change into something more comfortable," Kono said as the group made their way to the elevator. "I'll see you soon, okay?" She hugged Callie.

"Hey, Chin?" Callie asked, looking at Danny and giving him a smile. "Will you do one more small favor for me?"

"You name it."

"Will you swing by Danny's and get some clothes for him, too?"

The team grinned, understanding Callie's meaning.

"You bet I will."

"Thank you, Callie," Danny said, wrapping her in a bear hug.


	2. Chapter 2

Steve always had trouble with anesthesia. It never failed. His blood pressure dropped, he couldn't wake up as fast as the nurses in the recovery room wanted him to, and it made him horribly sick for days.

This time was no different.

After the group left, Callie and Danny headed back to Steve's room, where a nurse was smoothing a cool cloth over his forehead. "Hi," she said softly, smiling at them. "I'm Kim. He had a little more trouble with nausea, but I think we've got him settled now."

"I'm Callie and this is Danny," Callie said with a smile. "Thank you for all you're doing for him."

"Of course," Kim said. "His vitals look good for now. Let me know if you need anything at all, okay?"

"Thanks," Danny nodded.

Steve stirred a bit and partially opened his eyes. "Hey," he mumbled groggily. "Thought you all were leaving."

"The rest did, but you didn't think you could get rid of the two of us that easy, did you?" Danny teased.

"Hope not. Wouldn't…know what to do…without both of you." His eyes slid closed again.

"Just sleep, Steve," Callie said, rubbing his arm. "We'll be here."

* * *

And they were. They were there every time he awoke sick during the night. They petted him, held him, and consoled him as the retching caused searing pain in his abdomen and shoulder. They were there when the pain became too much and tears slid down his cheeks as the nurses and doctors tried to get it under control.

They weren't going anywhere. Not today, not ever.

* * *

Danny watched Callie carefully as she tended to Steve and beamed proudly. His partner couldn't have chosen a better girl. Physically, she was small, but what she lacked in size she made up for in heart. She was feisty and headstrong, but also nurturing and loving. She could light up any room she walked into, and Danny loved watching Steve watch her. He deserved this. He deserved every bit of happiness the world could throw at him because, man, had he been through some tough stuff.

"A penny for your thoughts, Danno?" Callie asked in a light tone.

Danny grinned as he heard Callie use his nickname. "What is it with you people?"

Callie shrugged, returning his grin. "It's a term of endearment, right?"

Danny laughed quietly, then turned serious. "Thank you for letting me stay last night. I...well, I didn't know what my place was and you helped me find it."

"Oh, Danny," Callie shook her head. "You know exactly where your place is-it's with him. It always will be. You're more like brothers than friends. Friendships like that are hard to come by." She moved beside of him and took his hand. "I hope you know that I would never, ever try to change that. I wouldn't want to. He's lucky to have you, and, by default, so am I. Dating, living together, married, whatever he and I do...you're always going to be a part of it. You're Danno-how could you not be a part of everything?"

She looked at him, her eyes big and honest.

Danny had to look away from her. He tried to swallow past the lump in his throat, but it was no use.

* * *

Kono and Chin quietly entered the hospital room later that day. "How's he doing?" Chin asked, nodding toward the sleeping man.

"Okay, all things considered," Callie answered with a friendly smile. "He has had some trouble with the effects of the anesthesia."

"He always does," Kono said, watching her sleeping boss. "Has he been sick?"

"Yeah," Danny said. "I think the worst of it is over now, don't you?"

"I think so," Callie agreed. "The pain is being managed better now, too, so that will help."

"Good," Chin said. " We brought a bunch of snacks and drinks and things. We figured you wouldn't want to leave him too often. How are the two of you doing?"

"Oh, thanks, guys," Callie said. "I'm good." She shrugged and smiled her signature megawatt smile. "I'm just so incredibly thankful it wasn't worse that it was, you know? He's going to be okay. It may take a while, and heaven knows it's going to be hard on all of us-" the group laughed "-but he'll be fine." She paused. "I'm so glad the best day of my life wasn't also the worst."

Kono hugged Callie tightly, then smiled. "So when's the big day?"

"We haven't exactly talked about that yet. Someone had to go off and get himself shot before a date could be set," Callie said teasingly, knowing Steve was awake. "Danny says he's a trouble magnet, and I'm beginning to believe that's true."

"Don't listen to Danno," a hoarse voice came from the bed. "Ever."

"Bud, you've done a lot of sleeping. Danno and I have bonded."

"God help me," Steve muttered to the amusement of the others. He was obviously still sleepy and high on the effects of pain medication.

Steve shifted then, wincing, trying to find a comfortable position. He huffed at the arm they'd put in a sling to immobilize his shoulder. "Stupid," he mumbled, more to himself than anyone else.

"You hurting, brah?" Chin asked, moving toward him.

"Mm. 'S hot in here," he complained with a frown, turning his head to the side and closing his eyes again.

Danny caught Callie's eye. The room wasn't hot—if anything it was a bit chilly. "Fever?" Danny mouthed to her.

"Probably," she mouthed back. She moved to lay a hand on Steve's forehead, then nodded to Danny. He stepped out to grab a nurse.

The nurse frowned as she checked Steve's temperature. "101.6. I'm going to put a call in to his doctor. It could just be from the trauma to his body, but it could also be an infection. It came out of nowhere, though. I checked his vitals less than an hour ago and his temp was normal."

A few minutes later, Dr. Vega poked his head into the room. "Hey," he gave a friendly smile as he came in. "I looked over Steve's chart again. I'm going to run a stronger antibiotic in his IV and we'll see if that takes care of the fever. I think he just needs a little more, and a little more time. It's probably just a reaction to the trauma, but I'm going to watch him closely, especially his lungs."

Callie nodded, smoothing a hand over Steve's sweaty forehead.

"Other than the fever, how do you feel, Steve?" he asked his patient, who had opened his sleepy eyes.

"'M fine," he mumbled.

"Of course he is," Danny grumbled. "He's only been shot twice, lost a lot of blood, and had several hours worth of surgery. Of course he's fine."

Steve blinked owlishly at Danny.

Dr. Vega chuckled. "It's okay. I think I pretty much understand that the commander's 'fine' is someone else's 'this is the worst I've ever felt in my life.'"

The group, except for Steve, laughed.

"That sounds about right," Chin told the doctor.

Dr. Vega patted his patient's leg. "Are you in any pain?"

Steve gave a nod, then swallowed hard. Dr. Vega noticed. "You still feeling sick?"

"Mm."

"That may be because of the antibiotics too. Since we just increased the dosage, I'm going to have Jill get you a stronger antiemetic. It'll probably make you even more sleepy, but sleep is the best thing for you right now. I'll order you something more for the pain too."

"'Kay," Steve mumbled, swallowing again. "Sprite?"

"Absolutely," Dr. Vega answered. "I'll get Jill."

Jill came back with a Sprite and three syringes of medication to push in Steve's IV.

"Hey, sweetie," she said softly. "Dr. Vega said you weren't feeling too good. I've got another antiemetic for you to hopefully help your stomach and some Tylenol for that fever. He's giving you something more for pain too." Steve merely blinked at her, not saying anything.

She handed a cup of ice and a can of Sprite to Callie. "Deary, will you fix that for him?"

"Of course," Callie said, pouring the Sprite and holding it for him while she put the straw against his lips. Steve drank a tiny sip then turned his head away.

Jill clucked her tongue sympathetically. "Not as good as you thought it would be?"

"No," Steve mumbled. "Jus' wanna sleep now."

She rubbed his arm and smiled. "That's good, sweetie. You do that."

* * *

Steve spent most of the day sleeping, waking several times to be miserably sick. His temperature was checked often and hovered around 102 during the afternoon hours. Seeing that the fever wasn't going down, Callie quickly switched into Dr. Ryan mode, borrowing a stethoscope from Jill. She listened to his lungs, didn't like what she heard, and had Dr. Vega called immediately.

Danny sat in a chair by Steve's side resting his head in his hands, dismayed by this latest development. Why could things never be easy for his friend?


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay, Steve. Deep breath," Dr. Vega said, pressing the stethoscope to Steve's chest. "Again. One more time."

That time, Steve fell into a harsh coughing fit that sounded painful.

"All right," Dr. Vega sighed. "It's pneumonia. I'll get an x-ray to confirm, but I'm sure. The good news is we've caught it early, so I'm confident we can get it taken care of quickly. I'm going to change antibiotics again—"

"Fantastic," muttered Steve.

Dr. Vega chuckled. "Who knows, Steve, maybe your stomach will tolerate this one better?"

Steve snorted in disbelief.

The doctor patted his patient's shoulder. "Well, we can hope, right? We'll do oxygen as you need it, breathing treatments every few hours, antibiotics, and we'll knock this thing out. How's that sound?"

"Good," Steve said, coughing again. "When can I go home?"

Dr. Vega shook his head and grinned. "We're already to that point?"

Danny laughed. "Doc, you're lucky he's lasted this long. Normally it's pretty immediate."

Steve ignored his partner. "When?" he asked again.

"Soon. Be patient. You need to be fever-free or close to it and able to keep down food. I want to see a good bit of improvement in your breathing. The gunshot wounds are looking fine, so they won't be a problem."

"So, tomorrow?"

Danny and Callie rolled their eyes.

* * *

It took a few days for Steve to meet Dr. Vega's requirements, but he was finally released. He was still slightly feverish and coughing, moving slowly with his arm in a sling, but he insisted he would rest better at home and the doctor agreed.

* * *

Callie had been around long enough to know she could expect the team that evening. They'd drop by one by one, saying that they just wanted to stop by to say hi and check on their leader. Each one would stay, though, then the next one would arrive and the next and suddenly the living room would be full and dinner would be either ordered or prepared. No one would leave until late…or possibly not at all. She smiled as she puttered around the kitchen and thought of his—no, _their_ —ohana. She went ahead and put on coffee, anticipating their arrival.

Hearing Steve beginning to stir in the living room, she grabbed a bottle of water, a granola bar, and his medication. She perched on the edge of the couch as Steve woke.

"Hi, Commander," she said softly as his eyes blinked open.

"Mmph," he gave a soft groan. "Hey."

"How are you feeling?"

"Okay. Sore." He coughed and sniffled, looking at her sheepishly. "Not really okay. Kind of icky."

Callie laughed. "Did you just use the word icky?"

Steve nodded sleepily. "M' shoulder hurts too."

Just then there was a soft knock at the door and Callie went to open it, finding Danny with his arms full of groceries. "Hey," he greeted her with a smile. "How is he?"

She moved aside so he could come into the house. "Says he feels icky," Callie said, grinning. "It's not funny that he feels bad, but a 6'2" Navy SEAL using the word icky is pretty comical."

Danny chuckled. "Yeah. I'd say so." After dropping the bags in the kitchen, he returned to talk to Steve. "Hey, babe. Not feeling so great?"

"No." He winced as he adjusted himself on the couch, cradling his arm so his shoulder wouldn't be jostled by the movement.

"It's time for more medicine, but you're going to have to eat something first," Callie told him.

He made a face. "'M not hungry."

"Oookay," Callie said slowly. "I understand that. But you understand that if you don't eat, you will throw up. Do we want to go down that road again?"

"No. Prob'ly will anyway though." He blinked tiredly at her.

She looked at him sympathetically. "Your stomach is just no good, babe."

"Never has been," Danny commented.

"Ugh. Let's not talk about it."

"I brought you a granola bar. Just eat a little of it, then you can have your medicine and go back to sleep. Deal?"

Steve gave a tiny nod and accepted the bar from Callie, eating half of it then taking the antibiotics and pain medication.

Danny and Callie watched as the tenseness in Steve's body slowly eased and he drifted to sleep.

Lou came next, followed by Chin, then Kono, then Jerry and Max. Nahele arrived a bit later with Kamekona and Flippa. When Steve woke up, he kept his eyes closed for a few minutes just listening to his ohana. They were trying to be quiet but were failing miserably. Danny was fussing at all of them in a hushed whisper as he cooked. Whatever Danny was cooking smelled wonderful, and Steve was surprised to find himself a little hungry. Danny had once accused him of liking to fix broken toys—meaning the people in their ohana—and Steve had never given it any thought until now. He did like it, he guessed, though he never went into a situation with that purpose in mind. He just wanted to help, that's all.

"What's up, babe?" Danny asked as he came into the room. Of course, Danny had realized he wasn't asleep.

Steve opened his eyes and smiled. "Just thinking. I'm lucky to have this ohana. I never thought I'd have a family again."

Danny nodded, looking around. "You created this, babe. We wouldn't all be here if it weren't for you. You've made a world of difference in every single life here, and we're all better for having known you. And now we've added Callie to the ohana, and I couldn't be happier for you. You deserve all the good things, babe. All of them."

Steve shook his head, unsure of how to respond. "Thanks, Danno."

He looked around the house, smiling at the group of people he'd surrounded himself with over the past few years. None of them were broken anymore.

And neither was he.


End file.
